Guild Wars 2

Ohoni.6057:

All of that said, you can get decent shards (slowly) if you bang your head against bosses each week. If you change perspective, tell yourself “I want to get shards and success doesn’t matter,” and join learner pug raids, you will accumulate them slowly. Been raiding since Spirit Vale released and have 500 now after all of our head banging.

I’m sorry, I just do not enjoy the “head banging” experience AT ALL. It is not an activity that I want to spend any time on in the game if it can be helped, surely not more than a few hours in total. My goal here is not merely to train up for hard mode, although others can certainly use it for that purpose, it is rather to bypass hard mode entirely, because hard mode, in its current form, will NEVER be something I will enjoy doing. The high stakes just push it outside the zone where I could ever possibly be comfortable with it, no matter how much I train, no matter how perfect my team is.

So any suggestion that involves “you get nothing, but maybe it would help you do the existing raids” is just a non-starter with me, if they added that mode, I might play through it once, but I would never touch it again, whereas a genuine easy mode raid, whcih offered repeatable rewards that would allow me to progress towards things like Legendary Armor at a much slower pace than Hard Mode raiding, that is something that I would not only try, but would ENJOY doing on a regular basis.

Ignoring everything else since its been addressed…

To me, it was head banging because I was actually trying to progress with my group.

If you have no desire for progression, but still want that armor and need shards for it, I don’t see how “I want to get shards and success doesn’t matter" doesn’t really work for you. You enter a raid knowing you won’t succeed, but who cares when you’re working towards your armor? If getting shards in this way equals (in your words) “progression towards things like Legendary Armor at a much slower pace…” well, that’s how you work it during this time where you just can’t have what you want.

If you look at things differently, it may help you get through this time where easy raids aren’t a thing. If you’re just committed to hating everything about raids as they currently are, that’s perfectly fine (as I said, a lot of guildies who didn’t like it stopped raiding and even set GW2 aside for now) & I’ll stop replying.

No worries, they already are. May not solve the “friends quitting” problem, but it’s something.

“We’re continuing to focus on Fractals as our primary focus for 5-man content. However, given the reaction, we are taking a second look at the current dungeon rewards.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nwov7?context=10000

I’re read every comment in this thread and want to add to/address a few…

AliamRationem.5172:

…I explained the harm from the perspective of a raid leader and guild master. It’s not something you would understand if you’ve never done progression raiding.

When they talk about burnout, they’re referring to progression raiding. This is the phase of raiding where you haven’t yet completed the content and raid nights consist of repeated failures with only incremental progress and little or no reward to show for it.

How easy do you really think it is to keep players showing up for that each week? And what do you suppose the impact on an already demoralized raid is when a critical player leaves and has to be replaced with someone who hasn’t put in any time practicing with the group?

That’s the true challenge of raiding and why it requires so much time. These guys who talk about how you only need an hour or two each week to raid are talking about farm content. Progression requires much more time and managing the logistics is the biggest challenge…

Lots of people talked WoW, so I’d like to add the GW2 perspective. This is my guild right now. We’re working hard and have been raiding together since Spirit Vale released, but this has been our experience almost every week since then. We raid casually, 2 nights a week for 2 hours (down from 3), and have downed VG & are finally getting close to downing Gors (15% lowest).

When we started, we had a full group of 10 regulars + a few backups. A fair number of those people have left GW2 for other games, and now we go week to week, unsure if we’ll actually be able to raid. If someone has work, takes a vacation, etc. we don’t raid. Pure and simple (not complaining, btw: we don’t pug).

I fully understand people being discouraged. I fully understand people not wanting to bang their heads against walls for hours on end with very little sense of progress. I fully understand people deciding that raids (and that experience) are not for them. I fully understand the frustration of having new people flowing into the group who lack raiding experience and feeling like we’re starting from scratch again.

Sometimes when we get the newer raiders into our groups, we bang our heads against VG for 2 hours and still don’t get him down. I get the frustration of the more experienced raiders (“we’ve taken down VG before, he’s not that hard!”) and I get the frustration of the newer raiders (“cut me some slack, I’ve not done this before/I don’t do this often”).

It’s hard for everyone involved. Burnout is a real risk in our guild right now. However, I don’t think they should introduce an easy mode of the raid that offers any sort of substantial reward. I’m in the camp of “training raids with 0 reward.”

That leads to:

Ohoni.6057:

Do you mean Story Mode? Nobody runs story mode more than once. It would not be worth them making a version of the raid that people would only run once. Having a reasonable level of reward gives people a reason to run it multiple times. People suggesting “zero reward” are just people who don’t want the mode to exist in the first place.

I’d like to see “easy mode” (and when I say easy, I mean raids rebalanced for however many is in your party) raids simply for training. If people really really need a reward beyond getting skilled enough to do the “real” raid, offer a shard per attempt. The ideal, for me, is to make an environment that is friendly to teaching and practice. As it stands now, if myself or anyone else wants to better themselves, they have to do so at the expense of a minimum of 9 other players. Having something like this would be really nice for those people who deal with the problem of “everyone is looking for experience, but I have none, so no one will take me, so I’ll never get the experience.”

I know this doesn’t match your particular problem, but it does offer you a (slow) way to work towards that armor you want. If, during those training raids, you do get to the point where you are ready for the “real” raids, you can hop right in with the experience you need.

However, I understand that this would take a lot of resources to produce (someone has to work on the coding & the back end, someone has to test, etc etc.) so I’m not holding my breath. I’m also not really expecting this to be a decent solution in your eyes either, since you seem to want something more rewarding than this, but less rewarding than regular raids. To me, that idea doesn’t provide any sort of incentive to get better… and I understand that not everyone wants to better themselves, but, in my opinion, I don’t think that mentality should be encouraged.

All of that said, you can get decent shards (slowly) if you bang your head against bosses each week. If you change perspective, tell yourself “I want to get shards and success doesn’t matter,” and join learner pug raids, you will accumulate them slowly. Been raiding since Spirit Vale released and have 500 now after all of our head banging.

Ohoni.6057:

Yes. Some people enjoy the situation you describe, failing over and over and over, but getting better each time, and eventually succeeding. That’s fine, if you enjoy that, knock yourself out, as many times as it takes to make you happy. I’ll wait. But not everyone is like that. Not everyone can enjoy that experience, not everyone feels that the catharsis of eventual victory is strong enough to make up for the annoyance of multiple failures. And that’s OK.

Different people are different, and different gameplay experiences benefit each of them. What makes you happy about raiding is not what would make everyone happy about raiding. It’s not that players like myself are just not giving your version a proper chance, and that if we did we would appreciate it as much as you do, it’s that different people are different, and we genuinely do not enjoy the same type of experiences that you do. For us, the lows are lower, and the highs are lower too, so it’s never worth it. NEVER.

& I totally sympathize with your point of view. I do. We’ve lost a fair amount of raiders because of this point of view, and its okay. Raids aren’t for them, currently, so they aren’t raiding (and are playing other games, honestly). For now, players like you and players who are trying to jump into raids with no experience suffer, but Anet currently has no plans for casual raids, nor 5 man raids (which would be closer to my suggestion for “easy” raids). Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nzule?context=10000

So, with our current reality, you are left with a few choices:
1.) change the way you view raids and shard accruement (change “banging your head against a wall” to “get shards in any way possible and screw success”)
or
2.) don’t raid and wait to see if they implement easy mode raids someday

At this point, they have seen the suggestion for easy mode raids.

And since effort on the raid team’s part been mentioned several times in the thread… remember, Salvation’s Pass only had 5-6 people working on it for 4 months. That’s very few people for such a heavy workload. An easy mode raid may actually be as easy as “one guy working on it for a few hours,” but considering they have already discussed easy modes and have yet to put anyone on the task, I would guess that it is more difficult (or they just aren’t willing to sacrifice the necessary developer because they want him/her elsewhere).
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nwad9?context=10000

Editing this in, because it hits home in regards to developer’s efforts: “With all due respect, unless you’re a developer for GW2 you are not qualified to make a statement about the time needed, difficulty involved, or feasibility of such a feature.”
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Suggestion-Difficulty-settings/page/2#post6042466

“Over the last couple of years, dungeons have been a major part of the game’s economy; between unique armor and liquid rewards, they’re often farmed. In the expansion, we’ll move away from this paradigm. As the game progressed, we shifted focus from dungeons to fractals and raids, and we firmly believe that fractals and raids are the content that we want to continue to support. As a part of that process, we’ll shift some rewards away from dungeons and into other pieces of content. While dungeons will remain cool experiences that’ll reward players with unique items, their liquid rewards will be reduced and other content will become more rewarding. The shift in rewards is a direct representation of our focus on raids and fractals and our commitment to make them the best they can be.”

Source: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/the-guild-wars-2-heart-of-thorns-economy/

However, they said this in the recent AMA:

“We’re continuing to focus on Fractals as our primary focus for 5-man content. However, given the reaction, we are taking a second look at the current dungeon rewards.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nwov7

“Simple answer, yes. We didn’t need to nerf dungeons like that. But we also don’t have a dungeons team to keep dungeons updates. So that’s the dilemma.
Guild Wars 2 is a big game with a lot of dev needs. My personal focus is to ensure that we do a great job of anything we choose to do. I’m all about doing fewer things and doing them better. So we have no current plan to staff a dungeons team; no free developers to staff one with.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nxj76?context=10000

“…nope, no new dungeons. Not now, anyway :(”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/48zlyd/im_mike_obrien_here_with_gw2_dev_team_ama/d0nxwsj?context=10000

Basically, they have no dungeon team, aren’t planning on making a dungeon team, and they want to focus on fractals & raids. However, they are looking at adjusting the dungeon rewards in some way.

Just sharing my story – this happened to me at least a month or two ago.

A friend (who was in a organized Teq guild) taxi’d myself and a few guildies (not in the organized Teq guild) over to an organized map. We broke up our group and grouped up with the defense teams. This was at least 30mins before Teq. spawned.

Around the 10 minute till mark, someone from the organized Teq guild called out in map that they were jumping maps. My group disbanded and joined on him, then switched maps. The map was empty. A few people slowly trickled in, but no one from the organized guild.

I let my friends know not to jump ship, and sure enough, the guy who initiated the bogus “map change” was bragging in the previous map about his purge.

I finally made it back into the map with my friend’s help, but it was pretty insulting. I showed up early, wasn’t afk leeching, had everything ready and had a good team, and we almost got screwed for not being in their guild.

Since then, I’ve had decent luck with pug Teq. maps.

Disclaimer: I was not in their TS, I was in my guild’s TS. I guess the lesson is “join their TS or get shuffled out.”

I wouldn’t take a guild invite in exchange for access to their TS though. At that time, it was free access.

edit- spelling

This is the only Dev reply i’ve seen on it:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/arenanet-tracker/topic/331809-cultivated-seed-swapped-with-pet-seed/

Edit- this is the only Dev reply I’ve seen regarding anything about the back piece.

Lol, a guildmate told me the nodes in the Grove instance are so far out that they are almost in the “instance kicking” area. He reported it as a bug~

Leallax.1482:

Scrribble here’s your Norn Guardian! :D

So pretty! <3

I absolutely adore it! Thank you! :D

Spaceghost.3485:

I came up with ascended professions. Imagine evolving your very own profession. A guardian evolving into a templar, an elementalist evolving into a sage, a necro evolving into a warlock and an engineer evolving into a machinest. I was thinking once a character hits 80 they have a choice to ascend there profession. the character goes back to level 1 but doesnt lose his current gear or anything and a whole new set of traits are formed. I would say you have to make new gear but just the visual look of gear should reflect to the current ascended profession.

^ this statement is not a solution for what you ourself outlined as the main issue:

Spaceghost.3485:

There was nothing to do, dungeons take to long for crappy loots and fractals took even longer to actually reach the level to get mediocre loot. The main problem with this game is the loot system. I mean if I kill a world boss that takes coordination and skill to kill and doesn’t respawn that often, I’m going to expect some exotics or something worth my time.

I can understand wanting more to do at 80, but reverting back to “level 1” to make a player forget about the loot sucking is only going to delay (or enhance even) their dissatisfaction with the game. In the end, as you say, the main issue is with the reward. Why bother reaching 80 again if the loot is going to be as terrible as my first ascent to 80?

Will be up soon! I deleted my original character ref. album on imgur, so i’m trying to put that back together. XD

I’d like a slot. Edit: my character references. c:

http://imgur.com/a/Hcinr#0

(my human guardian & my sylvari mesmer are in there. your choice on which to draw!)

CureForLiving.5360:

The best I could fine was: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Iron_Greatsword, and in which case it’s craftable, but it looks nothing like a katana…

OP: Do you have a picture of it?

Here’s the pic & how to find it in your wardrobe:

Gems for gold will go down when more players exchange real money for gems, then to gold, if my understanding is correct. Gem prices go up because more players want to use their gold for them, rather than buying gems with real money to convert to gold. But, to hear more in depth conversations on it, check out the black lion trading forum. There are a fair number of threads on it.

This sounds awesome! I can’t wait to see the entries!

Also, party of halloween RPers… yes please! Charr Mad King bobble heads preferred. gogogo!

Here are mine:

1st: 9 – Tophat Kitty & one of the most dapper charr I’ve seen.

2nd: 5 – Beautiful dyes and nice use of the ascended legs

3rd: 2 – that comic OP. It makes it so much harder to not vote for her knowing her story. (:

winterchillz.2564:

Scrribble, that’s the story mode loading screen. The current one for explorable mode is the one with Caithe.

Ahhh, okay. Curse this bad memory! XD

I don’t remember that tree screen. It is pretty * u *

Addressing both edits, my dungeon group did p1 and got this bug. We gave up and restarted, then didn’t get the bug.

Luck of the draw?

I’m pretty sure it was explorable, but its been awhile, so I’m unsure. I’ll leave that to someone else to chip in about.

edit: a quick google search for “Twilight arbor loading screen” yielded that one and the current one. If there is another one, google has failed me.

Yep! The attachment should be 1440 × 900, unless the forum shrinks them.

I’d assume personal preference.

From lurking the dungeon forums, Lilith IS GW2 fashion. :P

Reviving this, happened to my fractal group yesterday.
We tried wiping in the lava, lifting and refitting the boulders into the vents, ran as a group back to the start and walked the NPCs back, nothing. Ended up restarting the whole run.

If it matters, it was a 30.

Same problem last night. Submitted a bug report for it.

We tried destroying the turrets, WP’d back to the entrance and ran Spire back to the boss, everyone except for the host dropping party + coming back in, the host going to character select & back in… nothing.

Alilinke.7690:

So I got bored and made this poorly written comic xD

This comic is so much win.

“Oh Logan, I’ll investigate the matter, but I’m NOT going on a date with you.”

Priceless XD

Lua.4163:

She loves hugging Kodans but they don’t look so happy about it.

That picture with the Kodan is adorable. <3

Windu The Forbidden One.6045:

Yea you guys hate the look of my ranger I get it XD

Nah, standing there: very pretty.
(gonna attach another example of your setup that turned out very pretty to me.)
Running: QQ

It really is all about the running animation of the coat for me. ~

Female, voted #1

Also agree with needing more armor choices in general. >:

Lol, my complaint is with the asymmetric T3 coat.

I had an underboob thief for ages but the movement (or leg-clinging, really) of the “skirt” section of the top made me cringe. I replaced it in the end. Such a shame. :/

Pretty Particles here, flashing her best looks for Minister Caudecus ~

Arriving in her Feathered Headpiece, Caudecus Mantle, Aristocrat Coat, Inquest Gloves, Rubicon Skirt, Winged Boots, while showcasing her Whisper’s Staff.

Her clothes were carefully dyed by the finest artisans using brick, cherry, and burgundy reds- daffodil, lemon, redemption and lemonade yellows- with soft pastel lemon and lemon ice hues.

Congrats to the winners! :D

My last minute entry! :3

My human guardian in HotW:
http://i.imgur.com/DwmGhy7.png

My Norn ranger in AC:
http://i.imgur.com/U8jsWwJ.png

And my human ele in the FotM lobby:
http://i.imgur.com/KGW5LhA.png

ronsalon.1967:

I am a Verizon user. I was having major issues. Somone posted this. I took a chance. I used this person’s suggestion. Fixed my issue instantly.

Kilam.4913:
I’m also on Verizon in the NYC area and am experiencing this issue.
Instead of setting up a VPN, try this workaround:
Edit C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts using notepad (run as administrator)
Add this line at the bottom:
174.35.56.164 assetcdn.101.arenanetworks.com

voodoochild.9316:

1) Right click “Notepad” and select “Run as administrator”
2) Click File -> Open 3) Browse to “C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc”
4) Change the file filter drop down box from “Text Documents (.txt)” to “All Files (.*)”
5) Select “hosts” and click “Open”
6) Make the needed changes and close Notepad. Save when prompted.

ETA: all credit goes to the users on reddit’s GW2 forum for posting this life-saving info!

Worked beautifully for me. Thank you both. (:

Rangers should have a pet revamp.

All current pets should be removed and should be replaced with Pokemon. Each ranger should be allowed to carry 6 Pokemon and should strive to defeat Zhaitan to become the GREATEST POKEMON TRAINER RANGER IN TYRIA!

Same issue for me. Just submitted a bug report. ):